Visiting Koh Rong Sanloem – The Tropical Paradise Of Cambodia

Last Updated: November 26 2020

Cambodia is a beautiful Country with so much history and tradition. At the time of writing this we have spent 20 days in this incredible country and have saw many of the amazing places it has to offer. Our favourite place to stay by far has been the tropical paradise that is Koh Rong Sanloem. Koh Rong Sanloem is a small island off the coast of Cambodia; being just a 40 minute boat ride from Sihanoukville. This island is a must for anyone travelling to Cambodia. It’s more popular neighbour Koh Rong island is more of the party destination. Koh Rong Sanloem is known as the quieter destination for travellers.

We want to show you why Koh Rong Sanloem is must for anyone visiting Cambodia! We also want to give you information on the best place to stay here!

The Island:

The Island itself is only 9km long with a population of around 300 people living here; however the population is growing all the time. Koh Rong Sanloem has stunning beaches with the clearest waters, incredible reefs teeming with sea life, and a lovely community of people. There is also lots of fun activities for you to do.

We stayed on M’Pai Bay and one thing we really loved about this place was the chilled out vibes it had. M’Pai Bay is a stunning bay with a cute little village; a lot of which is also on the beach. There are plenty of places to stay, restaurants and the odd shop too. With most of the restaurants being on the beach, it is a lovely place to relax and grab something to eat. The water was stunning, there were plenty of palm trees and there were lots of puppies running around! What more could we want!

Where We Stayed:

We stayed right on the beach in the most brilliant little place called My Way ran by the most lovely Lady. We definitely recommend you stay here because it is absolute paradise. The rooms are really nice and comfortable, the bathrooms are always clean and the host is just wonderful. The host here is called Alex. She makes your stay even more memorable by being super friendly and helping you whenever you need. When the two of us were ill she made sure she did her best to help by getting medicines etc for us, and was always checking in on us.

The room we were in cost us £11 a night which was an amazing price. The guesthouse was on the beach, and had stunning views! You could buy a picnic to take out with you, spend time with other guests and just generally have a lovely time here. We enjoyed it so much we booked two more nights which Alex sorted out for us despite her being fully booked. We found this incredible place on airbnb, although if there are rooms available you can book at the island. On the last night of our stay here Jack got really sick, and the host managed to fit us in for one more night so he wouldn’t have to travel the next day.

What Is There To Do?

Even though the Island is only small there is so much to see and do. Snorkeling locations are plentiful with M’pai Bay having a brilliant spot behind the sunset bungalow restaurant. Here you are see all sorts of fish including clownfish, parrot fish and huge starfish. There are also plenty of kayaks for rent that you can take out around the bay. Another fun thing to do is make your way to the cliff hostel to get an awesome view out to sea before then walking down to snorkel.

Just an hour walk from M’pai bay is Clear Water Bay which is known for how breathtakingly stunning and secluded it is. We were going to get a picnic and head here but Abbie wasn’t feeling well. However we have heard how incredible it is from other travellers. Another great thing to do here is simply relax. We had already been travelling for nearly 4 months by the time we got here. To have a few days in this gorgeous place where we did nothing but relax, swim and play games was just what was needed. We spent 7 nights here, many of which were the best lazy days we have ever had. For relaxation, and tropical vibes Koh Rong Sanloem is must for anyone travelling to Cambodia.

Why You Have To Stay In Koh Rong Sanloem?

M’Pai Bay has so much to offer, but one of the main things we loved about this place was its sense of community. M’pai Bay has an amazing little community where everybody knows everybody. This makes the bay even more special with parties and comings together occurring all the time. People would bring food and drink to each others guesthouses, and generally just have a lovely time. This really made us realise how much we have at home and how lucky we are. It was definitely the perfect place to spend our first Christmas away from family!

This post could have been so much longer but we felt that we just wanted to give you all a taste of this wonderful place! This post only just touches on some of the reasons you should come here.

Thank you so much for reading this post! We hope you enjoyed it and that you can’t wait to come and visit this incredible cheap paradise. If you want to find out more about Cambodia, why not visit our “10 things you should know before going to Cambodia” post here.

Jack & Abbie

P.S. If you want to see more photos from our time in Koh Rong Sanloem then why not check out our Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/acouplescalling